Well, Thanksgiving Day celebrations next month are uniquely American, whilst Thanksgiving Day celebrations in October are uniquely Candadian.

Anyway, flanneruk, how do you expect Americans to know what is going on north of the border, when many don't even know what is going on in other parts of their own country? I remember several years ago the Colorado Tourist Board doing a survey to find out how much New Yorkers knew about their state. Asked what Colorado was famous for, most said "the Grand Canyon."

Candadian? Sorry, Canadian.

Asiede from the service at St Paul's, I wouldn't try and find a "traditional thankgiving meal." Just not worth it in my opinion. THe food will be way over priced and not that good. Hotel catering style meal. Yuck!! If I were you I'd plan for your most formal meal that night and celebrate and bit differently this time!

Incredible advice Highledge...I think we'll look into doing just that.

Alec

in 40 years I have only been to one 'harvest festival' - true it was at a village school but it is not a big thing.

Our village church in Suffolk has a harvest service every October. I believe this is a tradition observed mostly in rural farming communities. Even here, with the decline in the number of farm workers, and many villages becoming dormitories for commuters, the tradition is in decline.

Actually audere est facere,

According to http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbie...giving/canada/

"The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to the English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who was trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. He was not successful but he established a settlement in Northern America and in 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving. Other settlers arrived and continued these ceremonies. He was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay."

Kiddo

We don't have a 'thanksgiving' no.

We have harvest festival - but it is dying out. It's normally just a church service thing so bear in mind that only about 6% of the UK goes to church, you'll see how it's not that popular these days. Schools sometimes have a little harvest festival celebration and collect food for local needy people.
It's not a family event in the sense of US thanksgiving though. I've never heard of anyone having a harvest festival dinner - and I used to work on farms 20 years ago. They died out early in the 20th century - not to say that there might be a few exceptions still around, but they really would be as rare as pandas!

Harvest festivals are great for getting rid of unwanted tins of veg.

My favorite Thanksgiving Day dinner in London is a Guinness, bangers and mash.

Thanks for the reference to the US Embassy newsletter Heimdall. I think I will go into town for the service at St. Paul's.
Some of the American Women's Clubs in the UK are having special thanksgiving dinners. Go to the www.fawco.org page and contact the London club to see what they have planned, if anything. I know the Thames Valley branch is hosting a Thanksgiving meal. You can get more info on the lunch by emailing them: [email protected]

We had our Thanksgiving last saturday as we will be in Bangkok for Thanksgiving day. Have had Thanksgivng abroad for 25+ years including the last 9 and would not recommend a turkey... restaurant Thanksgiving.
If you were invited to someones home in London for Thanksgiving it would be quite nice. A local American organization Thanksgiving might also be fun. Otherwise I would eat where I wanted to eat in London. My last London Thanksgiving featured Indian food.